Mark
by loboscuro
Summary: a 'oneshot,' about how mark feels. Please review!
1. Chapter 1

[The first scene isn't verbatim.

**They **were dancing in that room, with the old music.

Juno put her hands on Mark's waist.

Actually, he said, they were here. He lifted her hands and put them round his neck, he smiled down at her.

They swayed for a while. There was something between them and Mark cracked a joke.

Her eyes were…oh, he gave up on descriptions.

His insides were melting strangely. His emotions were getting all swirled up and abruptly he saw that _this_ was what he wanted; his music, his old self before he had become what Vanessa had forced him into.

And symbolizing the heck lot of it was Juno, and he told her he was leaving her. Not leaving Juno, no, leaving Vanessa.

However, he wanted to continue…seeing? No, hanging, chilling, with her. He didn't say this but perhaps it leaked through in a word or two.

No! Juno said about his leaving Vanessa, vehemently, and he was taken aback.

You're so young, Mark said.

Juno left, turned down the stairs. He could hear his wife coming in.

Juno was crying. They had been happy together among his boxes.

He had been with her and she was crying and his wife had just come home –

Juno! Vanessa had a perfect expression of worry on her face. Juno was crying. She must have been with Mark. Why was Juno crying?

Mark came in after her: What did you do to her? Vanessa asked.

Nothing, said Mark. The situation seemed clear to him though. He could see what it could seem like to Vanessa.

He was going to leave Vanessa. He didn't want the baby. He wasn't ready for a child.

He felt absurd and he was afraid he looked so too. He must have done to her. Vanessa, the perfect business woman, dressed in her lovely responsible adult suit, and him, sitting at home in his teenager's rock gear –

What did you do? Vanessa asked.

I want and need to leave you, Mark thought.

He told her.

**He **had just been stricken by a random question that clung to his brain.

Where was Juno and what was she doing?

From what he had heard before he had taken off she had gotten together with the father of her baby…no, Vanessa's baby.

He did not and had not wondered what had happened with Vanessa, or his almost-son.

**Mark?** She stared at him. She had certainly gotten older. Six and twenty was still pretty young but she looked so…woman-like. Where was that sharp, cynical, cut in her voice? Surely she hadn't lost it.

Juno? He said. The exclamation mark he had intended came out bent. His claim was a question.

Mark, she said. She smiled. Well, you have not changed one bit.

Hadn't he? He looked down at himself. Well, his clothes –

Damn.


	2. Chapter 2

Could we go for a coffee? He asked her, staring into those eyes he remembered from long ago.

Well, she said. I guess.

So what do -

I should call -

They both tried to speak at once.

Go on, said Mark.

I should call Paulie, Juno said.

The name stung Mark. Paulie? What kind of sissy name was that? Some irrational jealousy seized his mind before he could remember that he hadn't ever really loved Juno. The jealousy clouded that fact and he believed he had done and that he still did. So now he thought: Paulie? This was, then, the person Juno had chosen over him?

A guy named Paulie over he, Mark, who was so undeniably _cool_? After all, what did this Paulie know about Juno? What did he know about the music and the old school films Mark and she had laughed over and shared during those beautiful afternoons?

Are you ok? Juno said, frowning lightly. His mouth had twisted with something that looked like scorn and disdain.

Yes, said Mark. Perfectly fine.

Right. Well, I'll call him then.

Why? Mark said.

Juno stopped, her hand halfway out of her bag with her mobile. Why?

Yes, said Mark. We can have a coffee without him, can't we? Just like old times.

Juno smiled and put her mobile back in. Right, well, ok then.

Paulie, Mark said.

Yes. Juno looked at him with that new expression, so endearingly grown-up on that face. My husband.

Mark's eyebrows shot up involuntarily. So that was what he was dealing with. No mere fancy but pure adultery! Oh, Christ. Clearly, the irrational jealousy was still smogging his mind.

They turned into the cafe just down the road.

Have you been to see Vanessa? Juno said, casually.

No.

Oh, said Juno. So what's up at the moment?

Mark pondered the deep philosophical question. Did she care? Nothing, he said.

No one special?

Weeeell, said Mark, no one special who likes me. He smiled at her.

Once more that light frown. And Mark's stomach skipped as he saw something like pity in her expression, and humiliation - for him? Surely not.

**What Juno thought**

so, half a decade later, and Mark turns up, still in his old school rock stuff, an overgrown kid. still got that theme going on. still not settled. God, this sounds like a completely trashy cliche. Mark the kidult who's never grown up, who'll never be _ready_...how had Vanessa coped with him?

That flirty smile isn't quite perverted. It's amazing he doesn't look like a pervy creep, cos anyone else woulda done. He's probably too much of a teen to look creepy. I mean, he doesn't act his age or even look it.

Where had that first impression gone? Mark, the perfect family-man-father, wearing that goddamn perfect blue sweater. She'd fallen in love with the situation; no better place for a baby, surely? And then she'd hung around with him and - well, sure, she'd enjoyed his company. Man, the guy knew more about the old stuff than was proper for a normal boring adult. But was it a bit ridiculous, him all decked out in the old stuff?

Maybe it was freedom. Why shouldn't people want to stay...in the past? There wasn't any concrete rule saying people had to change. Juno knew she had but still...

**Back to Mark**

What was he doing here? What was the feeling in his gut? Some strange, warped, aged jealousy that was, frankly, wearing him out. His love for Juno did not exist and he doubted if it ever had. Yes it had. He had felt so hurt in the basement. What _had_ she thought of him? Why was she there? _I just like being a piece of furniture in your weird life_. Strange how that hurt; for a second he had thought he had finally met someone just like him, even if they were a generation too late. Twenty-two years between them. Really.

He frowned at the expression in her eyes; that slight embarrassment for him. It made him feel pitied and it was _not_ a nice feeling. The girl should have some respect for him. Seriously.

Well do say hi to Paulie for me, he said. It would be really nice to meet him. I'm sure he's perfect for you.

He surprised himself because he actually meant it. How strange. Had it taken just that one look from Juno to change his mind so swiftly and completely? Or was it that that look had just cleared up his own reasonings - finally?

Are you in touch with Vanessa? He might as well ask Juno.

Yes, she said. Vanessa is doing very well and her son, too.

Wow, said Mark. Are they still in St. Cloud?

Yes. Juno looked up and met his eyes, smiling faintly. She seemed happy about something and the pity was gone.

What is his name? Strange how the sentence came easily from Mark.

David.

Mark felt a pang somewhere near his - oh dear, near his heart. Really. _David_ - well it could be nothing. It didn't mean she still cared for him at all...David was a common name, actually...

After his would-be grandpa, Juno said.

Mark felt another quivering arrow strike his breast. Oh. So...it did mean...it was...

Is Vanessa...seeing...some...anyone? He stuttered. His lips worked hard to form the words, but at last they spilled out.

Juno broke into an outright grin. Nope.

**Juno**

Did I know this would happen? Did I hope this would happen? No. Yes.

Ten goddamn years too late, I want to shout at him. You've missed your chance.

But he hasn't.

It's sad, really, how unfair life is. There must be thousands out there who desperately want a soul mate, and this guy finds her, leaves her for a decade, and now he's back - and not even because of her in the first place. At least,I don'tthink so. So should I be happy? probably. David...wow, he's ten. Knows all about how he was adopted. Probably doesn't know about his father...wait, maybe he does. His name, and all.

So go see her, Juno said, her dark eyes lit with some strange expression. Perhaps it was some kind of wryness at how Mark had failed, coward that he was, failed and ran away so badly and now he was back and damn his luck but - but she was still waiting for him, Vanessa.

A decade for him to realise?

A decade and Vanessa hadn't...found better?

How strange was love.

Oh how hackneyed a line.


End file.
